NHRA: Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals *SPOILERS*

[Mothers Worry]

Schumacher, Smith keep on rolling; Beckman, Coughlin score seconds

Form NHRA.com:

Schumacher, Smith keep on rolling; Beckman, Coughlin score seconds

Tony Schumacher defeated Larry Dixon to score a class-record-tying fifth straight victory in Top Fuel and run his unbeaten streak at the 1,000-foot distance to 20 straight rounds with a victory at the 24th annual Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals. The event, the 17th race of the 24-event NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series and the next to last before the fields are set for the Countdown to playoffs that start after the Mac Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals in two weeks, was chock full of points drama and upset performances.

Matt Smith, who shared the winner’s circle a week ago in Brainerd with Schumacher, will do it again after scoring in Pro Stock Motorcycle with his second straight final-round victory over Angelle Sampey. Jack Beckman and Jeg Coughlin each earned their second wins of the season and their first since early spring with their respective Funny Car and Pro Stock final-round conquests of Frank Hawley and Dave Connolly.

Schumacher and Dixon began the season tied with 41 wins apiece and both were participating in their 82nd career Top Fuel final round in Reading, but that’s where the duality ends as Schumacher continued his roll by earning his fifth straight Wally and record-tying tenth of the season and Dixon suffered his fourth straight final-round loss of the season, 3.84 to 3.89.

Schumacher, who qualified his Alan Johnson tuned Amry dragster No. 1 for the third time in the last four races, earned a first-round bye for the second straight event and followed with victories over Brandon Bernstein and returning vet Clay Millican. Millican, appearing at just his second NHRA event this season and first since Gainesville, almost ended Schumacher’s victory skein in the semifinals, putting a holeshot on “The Sarge” but was unable to hold off the U.S. Army horsepower. Schumacher won by just .009-second, 3.928 to 3.945. Schumacher is now just two round-wins from breaking his own record of 21 straight round wins, set in 2005-2006.

Dixon, winner earlier this year in Phoenix and runner-up in Houston, Bristol, and Topeka with Don Prudhomme’s U.S. Smokeless dragster, defeated Doug Foley, Countdown hopeful Dave Grubnic, and Antron Brown. Dixon’s semifinals victory class rookie Brown edged him closer to second-place Brown in the points standings.

The Funny Car final pitted two racers who previously worked together to teach the fine art of driving at Hawley’s NHRA Drag Racing School, and come the final exam, the teacher, Beckman, beat the headmaster, Hawley, with a 4.18 after Hawley had to abort his pass. The win was the fifth of Beckman’s career in Funny Car and came just a week after he red-lighted in the final round in Brainerd.

Beckman, like Dixon a winner earlier this season in Phoenix and winless since, reached his second straight final round and his third in the last five races after a disappointing string of events where he failed to reach the second round in six events and did not qualify at three others. Beckman, who clinched his spot in the Countdown playoffs in eliminations, powered his Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge past points leader Tim Wilkerson, 14-time champ John Force, and former world champ and low qualifier Cruz Pedregon in the semifinals.

Hawley, who last reached an NHRA final round in Top Fuel in Dallas 18 years ago and hadn’t been to the money round in Funny Car -- where he was the national champion in 1982 and ’83 -- in 24 years, since the 1984 Brainerd event and last scored in Funny Car at the 1984 Mile-High Nationals. Hawley, who returned to the nitro coupes earlier this year in Gainesville and had competed in only three races this season, opened eliminations by defeating teammate Melanie Troxel, then upset reigning POWERade champ Tony Pedregon, and, in the semifinals, class rookie Mike Neff, who earlier in the day had clinched the final spot in the Countdown to 1 playoffs.

Teammates Coughlin and Connolly squared off for the bragging rights, but the race was over before it even started when Connolly left the starting line .005-second too quick, drawing the red-light, his first of the season. Coughlin, the reigning world champ, made it official with a 6.650-second pass. The win was Coughlin’s 40th in the class and his 53rd overall.

On the day, Coughlin skipped past first-round loser Jason Line and into third place by defeating V. Gaines, Jim Yates, and red-lighting Kurt Johnson with three passes from his Jegs.com Cobalt that were within almost one-hundredth of a second of one another, to reach his 65th Pro Stock final.

Connolly, who started the season five races late while pursuing sponsorship, moved his Charter Communications Cobalt past both V. Gaines and Mike Edwards, leapfrogging from eighth place to sixth. He put a dagger into the heart of longtime rival Warren Johnson’s playoff hopes by beating “the Professor” in round one then defeated low qualifier and points leader Greg Anderson on a holeshot, the 42nd such driver-crucial victory in his career. In the semifinals, Connolly aced Dodge runner Allen Johnson to reach his 35th career Pro Stock final.

The Pro Stock Motorcycle final round was a rematch of their clash in Brainerd where Sampey’s bike refused to fire due to a faulty cam sensor and Smith soloed to victory, and although she made it to the line this time, the results were the same, with Smith flashing to victory, the 10th of his career, 6.98 to 7.06.

Defending world champ Smith, who moved past points leader Andrew Hines when the latter fouled in round one, rode his Nitro Fish Buell past Paul Gast, Craig Treble, and Steve Johnson to reach his 19th career final round.

Sampey, who scored her first career win at this event in 1996 but had not won a national event in more than two years, since she beat Smith in the final in Columbus in 2006, raced from seventh place to fourth, rebounding from her Brainerd disappointment to reach the final -- her 10th in 12 appearances at this event -- with her Rush Racing Buell. She trailered Wes Wells, Chris Rivas, and Karen Stoffer to make it to the money round, the 68th of her career. Stoffer did herself a huge favor by reaching the semifinals with her GEICO Suzuki, crashing into a provisional playoff berth and moving Hector Arana to the outside with one race to go.

Lucas Oil Sportsman titles were won by Marty Thacker (Alcohol Dragster), Frank Manzo (Alcohol Funny Car, the 77th win of his career), Dan Fletcher (Super Stock, his 53rd career win), Anthony Fetch (Stock), Jeff Strickland (Super Comp), and Iggie Boicesco (Super Gas).

[the chad]

it really is amazing just how dominant the Sarge is right now... 5 event wins in a row!

we have to stop and realise how amazing that is... 20 eliminations wins in a row!

[a152004]

Congrats to the winners.
Hopefully both Dave Grubnic and Doug Kalitta  can hold onto the last two spots in the top ten before the "playoffs" begin.  As much as I dislike the "playoff" system it is doing what it was designed to do.  To bring the field closer together  towards the end of the year to  stop someone from running away with the title.

Alan Johnson and his crew are doing  a great job at the moment.  20  elimination wins in a row is good but they still  have a long way to go to get to the streak of Frank Manzo of 47 wins in a row in Top Alcohol Funny Car  which was broken  about a month ago.